Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1887-03-22
MISCELLANEOUS.
! iunderbuy-underseII.
IFrom the March Auction Trade Journal oi
Charles Broadway ROuss.l

and the facts and figures quoted In
this circular are the annihilators that
will smash clear out of existence hon.
est competition, to say nothing of the
swindler who sells his soul for gold,
and whose stolen wealth and dishon-
est gains will be scattered like chat
before the piercing blast of the pit
iless storm, and whose epitaph is
written in the lonely dirge-GoNE.
Ehat all men possess qualities that
are powerful allies in bringing forth
great success cannot be questioned,
such for example, close application,
civility, economy, promptness, but
above all integrity-what would our
auction bargains avail that merchant
in whose heart did not burn that sa-
cred spark called "honor bright p
And what the necessity of buying
rightly if you do not intend to sell
cheap; what power for good in these
hard-hitting specialtiesif you destroy
their force by loading them down to
the waters edge with fifty and one
hundred per cent. profit.
Close by the spot of our early, des-
perate struggles, in CHURCH STREET,
you will read the same signboards
that hung there eleven years ago and
long before, whose thirty-day propri-
etors would chuckle and shake with
irresistible laughter at the audacity,
boldness, impudence and novelty of
a pile of our auction sledge-hammers
at our door. with ticket at sharp
fUe per cent. ddrdnce, "CAsH BEFORE
DELIVERY And had we listened to
Z" personal friends" and ''old time
rocks who knew the mercantile Lex
icon by heart, and leUeled up our fig
ures to the high water mark of thirty
and sixty days and delivered on the
same easy pdy-,rhen-yom please terms.
had we followed the earnest admoni-
ton, advice and warning of "' old
time Regulars" who thought they
knew the author of NET SPor CASH
better than THE ALMIGHTY, our little
auction flag would still be floating
there, or furled on the silent, barren
rocks of oblivion. The attractive
tickets were statesmen who never miss
ed fire, drew no salary, drank no
Blue Grass, told the truth. staggered,
stopped and sobered theEtime buyer
dated Tott1. saonths ahead and when the
landlord came for his rent Gone dollar
a day then. now thirty thousando he
had ta.stand hack until t'.c crnsh and
crash was over. Yes, down in the
same credit rnts and in the same ter
rible tolls of mercantile misery and
slavery, yoll will find these same pa
tient, persistent, good-hearfed fel-
lows, growing grey, learning nothing,
drifting down the tide of time, year
after year less able to meet the skir-
mish line of keen cash competition,
which day after day is tightening its
fatal coils and concentrating its fatal
unanswerable fire. There, too, on
that historic spot this writer would
have inevitably perished, but merci-
less ambition and unyielding pluck,
though dazed and stunned, in an un-
forgotten hour of desperation, deter
mined to stake everything that life
was worth upon one more battle-it
was the musical ring of the mimic ball
of cash against the dead dry bones of
credit.
Many a reader of these lines, as
well as this writer, has seen, peering
through the early dawn of morning,
gaunt poverty standing sullenly be-
fore him, and passed through the fur
mace of unrelenting adversely, heated
ten times hotter than that of the an
cient Assyrian and Babylonian, but,
with proud scorn, stood on the NOR
row in line of battle, in humiliation
and degradation it may be, but with
an unwavering determination that
meant triumph or annihilation. and
victory came forth at the command of
the master. 1t is truth, fortified by
thousand proofs; it is historic be-
yond question: it is fact and not fic-
ton, that this Circular has strength
ened many a wavering resolution has
taught that, ledUing. policy out Of ques-
tion, integrity was the sure and short
road to wealth, backed by CLOSE
QUICK PRoFITs-CAsH BEFORE DELIv-
ERY. And into the ear of many a
disheartened man. standing on the
edge of eternity, wondering what lay
beyond, has this silent monitor whis-
pered words that led him from the
grim portals of suicide, and by its
philosophy and figures, mated with
his splendid aspirations and his giant
energies, he once more stood safe and
solid above tide-water, food or storm,
upon the impregnabIe heights whence
he had so often been driven before
under the insane, idiotic and disas-
trous teachings of the Internal credit
system, arm in arm with the fatal pol
icy of one hundred per cent. profit.
And from many an honest heart has
this writer received the encomiums of
men high in position, who did not hes
itate in kindly words to say how, in
dull, hard and tough times, the
speed wheel' of this Monthly has
been applied to their rules and max
inns and ideas, resulting in vast in
crease in volume, big results and un-
precedented success; and thousands
of letters. acknowledging the great
change in their mercantile career, has
this writer in possession. which are
cherished as the most valued souve-
Mrs of his short but eyentful history ]
What high aims and honorable aspi-
rations the leaders and logic of these
TRADE JOURNALS have created. and
what worlds of smouldering industry
have caught fresh light and life?-
What vast energies and enterprise
have sI1ddenIy snruno into thrilling